Topic: WorldNetDaily
Apparently feeling left out among all the other COVID misinformers published beside him, WorldNetDaily columnist Elliot Resnick decided to stake his misinformation claim in his Oct. 29 column:
On what basis can someone claim a religious exemption from the COVID-19 vaccine mandate? Most people think it must be narrow and specific – for example, an objection to the use of aborted fetal tissue in the development of the vaccine. But for the 100 million Americans who already had COVID, the basis can be – indeed, should be – much more fundamental. Let's begin by reviewing two facts:
1. Never in the history of vaccination campaigns have people who already recovered from a targeted disease been asked to vaccinate themselves against it. The reason is obvious: A vaccine is designed to fool the body into thinking it is being attacked by a disease so that it can build a robust defense against it. If the actual disease, however, already attacked the body, there's no reason to fool it.
2. A recent scientific study found that vaccinated people are 13 times more likely to get COVID-19 than are people who already had COVID and recovered from it.
What does any of this have to do with religion? Simple. The Judeo-Christian tradition calls on man to use the unique divine gift with which he's been blessed – the human brain – to conduct his life. If a person shuts off his brain, if he ignores clear scientific data that demonstrate that taking the COVID-19 vaccine is unnecessary, he's rejecting God's gift. He's acting like a brute animal rather than a sentient human. In short, he's committing a profoundly irreligious act.
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Thus, if a person ignores scientific data – if he irrationally receives the COVID-19 vaccine despite having recovered from the disease – he is effectively adopting the pre-biblical view of the ancient pagans who engaged in superstitious practices to ward off danger. In other words, he is arguably practicing a form of idolatry.
Actually, the scientific data is overwhelmingly in favor of people who have previously contracted COVID also getting the vaccine:
- The Mayo Clinic stated, "A recent study showed that unvaccinated people who already had COVID-19 are more than twice as likely as fully vaccinated people to get reinfected with COVID-19."
- OSF Healthcare similarly pointed out research showing "previously infected people who received the first dose of vaccination rapidly developed a higher concentration of antibodies needed to prevent reinfection."
- The Cleveland Clinic reported that it's unclear how long antibodies from an infection last, and a vaccine will help keep the immune system going.
- Johns Hopkins Medicine cited numerous research studies "that support getting vaccinated even if you have already had COVID-19."
Instead of following the actual science, Resnick declared that refusing to get a COVID vaccine is some kind of moral imperative:
To resist such authoritarian orders is a religious imperative. Bible adherents worship one god and one god only. Only He can demand absolute obedience from us. Only He can ask us to walk with Him blindly, against all reason. No one else can. And if someone tries to, he is usurping God's role and asking us to worship someone other than Him.
In sum, for the 100 million Americans who already recovered from COVID-19, taking the vaccine means shutting off one's brain, rejecting modern science and irrationally submitting to a mortal power. All three are religious crimes, and therefore every Bible believer among them must be granted a religious exemption from the vaccine mandate.
It seems Resnick may need a little remedial religious education -- though he claims to be "the former chief editor of The Jewish Press" -- on top of a scientific one.
